Arranging the music of one song...

Our last DuckTales ReMix was back in January of 2016, so it's been a bit. Here to change that with an extended psytrance arrangement of fan favorite "The Moon" that makes some nifty minor/major intonation shifts is newcomer Rotten Eggplant:

"This song was a challenge made to me by a friend of mine. Normally, my style of music is orchestrated and a little bit of EDM. I asked him to pick a song and style for me to remix, and he chose "The Moon" level theme from DuckTales in the style of Goa/psytrance. Well, I like a challenge, and this is the result. So, here is my first attempt at Goa trance. I listened to a LOT of psytrance to get the hang of the style, watched a lot of videos, and I think I managed to complete most of his challenge, although part of the challenge was also to get this song posted to this site.

Now, Gario suggested that I include timestamps of the source material within the remix because I used it in a... er... creative way, although I tried to lay in as much familiarity and similarity as I could, given the nature of psytrance vs. the sound of "The Moon." So, I'll start with a breakdown of the source that I'll reference to when timestamping the remix:

The arp - 0:00-0:02

Intro - 0:02-0:13

Section 1 - 0:13-0:26

Section 2 - 0:26-0:36

Section 3 - 0:36-0:46

Alright, so here's the timestamp of the remix:

0:00-0:07 - The arp (actually, the arp is used a lot throughout the remix)

0:07-0:33 - The arp with the bassline of the Intro

0:33-1:00 - Er..... original, I suppose. Was meant to establish the psytrance feel.

1:00-1:26 - Return of the arp (in a minor key)

1:26-1:53 - Intro (in a minor key)

1:53-2:32 - Some playing around with the squelchies to the bassline of section 1

2:32-2:59 - Psytrance climax using the arp to the bassline of section 1

6:21-6:47 - The psytrance climax again with some more things thrown in

6:47-6:57 - The outro of the climax (and remix)

So, hopefully that should help if you're having a hard time hearing the source. I hope there's enough of it in there. I hope you guys enjoy! Thanks!

First off, why isn't this called "The Duck Psy of the Moon"? Or at least "Dark Psy" :) Coincidentally, I was listening to some different psytrance tracks by different artists recently, and while I dig it, psytrance does strike me like the "Law & Order" of the EDM world - you know they're gonna find a body in the first five minutes, you know they're gonna go around interviewing folks, you know the killer isn't the obvious "red herring" suspect but one of the first, seemingly-agreeable-but-in-retrospect-shifty people they talked to, etc. Psytrance has a lot of familiar ingredients that are almost mandatory for working within its space, the most obvious of which is the undulating bassline, but also clicky four-on-the-floor kicks, squelchy synth FX, and generous application of delay & reverb. It's a bit comfortable & familiar, perhaps, but I like Law & Order, and I like psytrance, so sue me. The artist does a good job leveraging all/most of these genre staples, but ALSO throws in a pretty clever modulation of the theme to minor and THEN brings in major key bits later for an unexpected contrast. This introduces more modal variation than I'm used to hearing in the genre, and struck me as unique for the style & also a distinct take on an oft-arranged source tune. Gario concurs:

"Anyway, as for the arrangement itself, I think it's pretty darn good, but it's biggest strength is that it takes something already heavily arranged and does something completely new with it. It's definitely Ducktales Moon theme (easier to hear with the helpful timestamps he gave... fun general fact, timestamps are VERY appreciated, to anyone paying attention here!), but it's so alien at the same time... That's the kind of thing that helps make you stand out on OCR, in my humblest opinion.

The production is great where it counts - the beats are solid, and there's plenty of space given to the drums without making the track sound empty. I have some small issues with the snare and the mixing of some of the leads - they sound too far into the background of the mix. Doesn't sink the arrangement or anything (it's still easy enough to hear everything), but they could've been placed closer to the front of the mix.

Finally, one hell of a name to give the track. Classic Floyd reference, also perfectly fits the arrangement... It doesn't win you panel points, but you do get some solid style points from me."

I still wanted pun, but otherwise: yeah. Production could have gone a little more drenched & spiralled a bit more, i.e. more "Psy," but that also might have made the modulation shift a little jarring/queasy. Sir_NutS did have some genre-specific advice/pointers that made sense to me but might also have precluded the key shift; ultimately this arrangement has some melodic ideas that don't fit squarely into the psytrance box, but it all still works (more than) well enough to be engaging and enjoyable, and for almost seven minutes! MindWanderer had more or less the same thought:

"It's hard to something clever and different with a source as overused as The Moon, but I think this succeeds elegantly. In addition to the clever riffing, the key changes neatly subverted my expectations, keeping me engaged. And it's engaging for seven minutes, no mean feat!"

Kudos to newcomer Rotten Eggplant, who defies whatever negative sonic expectations his pseudonym might suggest & debuts with a fresh, unspoiled take on an NES classic!

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